1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for transferring electronic information. More specifically, the present invention concerns a system for transferring a file of electronic information so as to protect the interests of a holder of a copyright in the transferred file.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most artwork, books and music are protected by copyrights. Copyrights are legal rights intended to protect the interests of a copyright holder by allowing a copyright holder to control copying of his copyrighted material.
Controlling copying is essential to protecting the interests of a copyright holder. For example, unauthorized copying decreases the value of copyrighted material to a copyright holder, because every sale of an unauthorized copy is a lost sale to the copyright holder. Also, the existence of unauthorized copies may decrease the rarity and therefore the value of copyrighted material. Moreover, a copyright holder may wish to control copying to ensure that his copyrighted material is not used in an undesirable manner.
In the past, the interests of a copyright holder were somewhat protected by difficulties in creating satisfactory copies of copyrighted material. For example, music or movies experienced a significant loss in quality when copied onto analog tape media. Also, copying bound books required the manually-intensive process of copying and collating each page using a photocopier. In view of these difficulties, consumers usually opted to purchase an authorized copy of copyrighted material rather than to create an unauthorized copy. As a result, unauthorized copies did not significantly affect the market for most copyrighted material.
For example, the Book-of-the-Month Club®, in existence since 1926, periodically sends bound books to subscribers. Unwanted books are returned by the subscribers. Due to the manually-intensive process needed to copy bound books, most subscribers will pay for a desired book instead of copying and returning a desired book. As a result, the Club has continued to remain profitable.
Advances in the use and reproduction of analog and digital files have addressed many of the previous hurdles to unauthorized copying. For example, music and books may be embodied in electronic files and perceived therefrom using electronic devices. These electronic files may be easily copied with modern computing systems such that the copies have little or no perceptible difference in quality from the originals. As a result, the interests of copyright holders have become seriously undermined. Such factors have discouraged electronic versions of the Book-of-the-Month Club®. Specifically, it is believed that electronic copies of music or books delivered to a subscriber are likely to be copied and returned. Accordingly, an electronic version of the Book-of-the-Month Club® might not generate acceptable profits.
In view of these problems, what is needed is an improved system to control copying of material embodied in electronic files.